Hemorrhoid Surgery Needs Careful Consideration

You should only turn to hemorrhoid surgery if conservative management - coupled with fixative procedures such as injections or banding - has not worked.

Hemorrhoids surgery is also appropriate if your hemorrhoid is large and causing a lot of pain and discomfort. Nowadays, more and more surgical treatment options for hemorrhoids are being offered other than the traditional method called hemorrhoidectomy.

In the traditional hemorrhoidectomy, the main objective is to remove the hemorrhoid before it gets worse. This is done by stretching the anus and tying the veins inside it to prevent bleeding.

After this, the hemorrhoids are cut off from the skin. This is usually the treatment option for grade 4 hemorrhoids and for grade 2 and grade 3 hemorrhoids not successfully treated by banding or other fixative methods.

The hemorrhoid operation is done under general anesthetic and has high success rate. However, this hemorrhoid surgery can be quite expensive and painful in the days to follow after the operation.

Due to the increase in knowledge about hemorrhoids along with the invention of newer high – tech devices in the medical field, more and more procedures are being tried and developed. Most new procedure aims to find ways to shrink the hemorrhoid so it would disappear on its own rather than excising it.

Below are hemorrhoid surgery alternatives to hemorrhoidectomy:

• Stapling or Stapled Hemorrhoidectomy
  

  It is the treatment of choice for prolapsed hemorrhoids. It a hemorrhoid surgery that is carried out under general anesthesia. This is the newer approach to hemorrhoidectomy because there is no excision done in this procedure. The hemorrhoids are stapled to the wall of the anal canal using a round stapling gun. The stapling does not only pull back the prolapsed hemorrhoid towards the wall of the anal canal, but also shrinks the hemorrhoid by cutting its supply of blood.

  In the past, there were some controversies in the use of stapling. It was thought that stapling would introduce more risks of hemorrhage and infection. However, several clinical trials done have proved that stapling is as safe as the traditional hemorrhoidectomy. It has some advantages over traditional hemorrhoidectomy such as having a shorter recovery period and causes less pain.

  
  

• HALO
  

  HALO stands for Hemorrhoidal Artery Ligation Operation. This is a relatively new procedure. During the operation, a miniature ultrasound is used to locate all arteries that supply blood to the hemorrhoid. After pin pointing them, a stitch is placed over these arteries so that the blood supply to the hemorrhoid is cut off. Eventually the hemorrhoid shrinks and disappears.

  This procedure is gaining in popularity as a treatment option because it is relatively a painless.

  
  

• Injection Sclerotherapy
  

  Phenol oil is injected into the base tissue of the hemorrhoids. This causes a fibrotic reaction which obliterates the blood vessels inside the hemorrhoid. The hemorrhoids then shrink and slough off from the lining like the effects of banding. However, this procedure is less used than banding because it has a lower success rate.

  Although the above procedures have high success rates, as with any surgical procedure, there are risks of complications or problems that may occur during or following the procedure. This is the reason why hemorrhoid surgery is usually the last resort.

  
  

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